Proceedings Paper

Current developments in thermal imaging in the 8-12 micron waveband are towards improving spatial and radiometric resolution. However, they will not reduce the initial or whole life cost. To significantly reduce costs the overall size must be reduced and significant savings made in three critical areas; detectors, cooling and optics. 3-5 micron quantum detection using a parallel or serial parallel scan is investigated which reduces cost in these areas by using inherently cheaper detectors with thermo electric cooling and low cost optics optimised for diamond machining using a reflecting single field of view telescope.